In semiconductor manufacturing, even small topological structures can impact the performance of a device. For example, in devices using magnetic materials, small topological structures can impact the magnetic properties of the device. As one example, a read head used in disc drives can be fabricated using semiconductor processing. The read head can utilize several different layers of materials in order to form a reader stack (or read sensor) in the desired configuration. A reader stack is the portion of read head that is configured to sense changes in a magnetic field. Thus, during operation, the reader stack can sense a change in the magnetic field of a magnetic medium positioned proximate to the reader stack. If a topological remnant is left behind from processing steps used to fabricate the read head, that topological remnant can potentially impact the magnetic properties of the read head depending on the size, location, and material of the topological remnant.